In his meditations — one for every Monday of the year — Father Steven brings us back, week after week, to the message of the Gospel, reminding us of its enduring relevance in the face of a secular world with which we are so forcefully confronted. He offers us a way to practice mindfulness by opening our workday to the Divine Reality that is so often relegated to Sunday services. It is that Reality that makes Monday mornings meaningful.

“Father Kostoff’s meditations trace the pathway, throughout the Orthodox liturgical year, that leads the reader from the goal of ‘bringing our minds and hearts back to the reality of God’ to our ‘becoming more human’ through an ever-deepening communion with the God of Love,” writes Archpriest John Breck. “These marvelously inspirational reflections can enlighten the spiritual journey of anyone who longs to behold the Face of Christ.”

In addition to his parish duties, Father Steven is a member of the adjunct faculty at Cincinnati’s Xavier University. He and his wife, Presvytera Deborah, have three children and four grandchildren. Father Steven is also the author of The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church: Meaning, Preparation and Practice, a concise and inspiring guide to the pinnacle of Orthodox Christian worship.